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Gender inequality when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet
Gender inequality when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet
Gender inequality when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet
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Since the time of William Shakespeare, society has changed tenfold. A big change is how much more opportunities women have in modern times. Way back when, women did not get a say in most of what they did; males in their lives mostly bossed them around. This can be seen in Shakespeare’s classic play, The Taming of the Shrew, when Petruchio attempts to “tame” Katherine. As years passed, women gained more freedom. This can be seen in the adaptation of the Shakespeare work called 10 Things I Hate About You. It shows that roles have changed slightly, but the general idea of the story is similar. There are drastic changes in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You due to the changes in society. Those changes include different actions …show more content…
In the play, an arranged marriage takes place to bring together Katherine and Petruchio. This was common during the time period of William Shakespeare and was unfair for women. The importance of this is that Katherine was not able to truly fall in love with someone, but she just had to deal with the abrasive ways of her newlywed husband. This can be seen in a quote by Shakespeare that says, “He pretends to be this simple, backward guy, but it’s all a gag to amuse his witty friends. He goes around proposing to women—they set a date, he gets introduced around, they send out the invitations and make a public announcement, but he has no intention of going through with it.” (Act 3, Scene 2). However, in 10 Things I Hate About You, Kat and Patrick only go to the high school prom together because it is incredibly uncommon in this day and age for two lovers to get married when they are still attending high school. Another difference is that Kat was able to choose Patrick to be with her. Patrick tries to be genuine and fall in love with her. These show that women have gained more opportunities to choose which brings to light the fact that women are people too and deserve the right to
In both Shakespeare’s “The Taming of The Shrew” and the 90’s film “10 Things I Hate About You”, there is a presence of societal expectations that affects the will of the shrewish female characters. Both have their will compromised; however a difference is found in the severity and process of change between Katherine at the start and the end of each story. Kat in Taming of The Shrew (TTOTS) goes through a more forced transition while fighting to submit, as Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You (TTIHAY) is more willfully changed, and done so with kinder methods. The men trying to court Kat also have to use what’s considered the most extreme means possible allowed for society with one being considered highly illegal in today’s society, and the other
In Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has a woman as one of the story's main characters. Katherine Minola (Kate) is off the wall, and kinda crazy. Because of her actions, the “male centered world” around her doesn't know what to do with her.
The Taming of the Shrew written by William Shakespeare depicts the common roles of men and women in the early seventeenth century. Shakespeare writes of Petruchio and Kate, a male and female who sharply oppose each other. Petruicho must "tame" his wife Kate without breaking her true inner spirit.
The first Shakespeare play which Zeffirelli adopted to the cinema, The Taming of the Shrew, deals with the theme of gender roles. In a grander scale the play explores the behavior expectations of males and females both in society at large and within a domestic relationship. For many years, most critics agreed that the heart of the play suggested male domination and female submission, especially to the authority of their husbands, as the accepted male-female dynamic. This view went unchanged for many years and audiences widely accepted Petruchio's “taming” of Katherina as politically correct.
A long time ago, a drunken man fell asleep outside an alehouse. This man, Christopher Sly, was discovered by a mischievous lord who took him into his home. The witty lord then convinced Sly that he was a lord, as well. The lord then put on a play for him. The play, The Taming of the Shrew, was about the two young daughters of Baptista. The youngest daughter, Bianca, wished to wed but her father, Baptista, would not allow this until his eldest daughter, Katherina, was married. Under normal circumstances, it would be easy to find a husband for Katherina with all her beauty, but all her beauty was covered by her shrewd personality. By this time Bianca's suitors were growing very impatient, so they decide to team up and find a husband for Katherina. In jest they mentioned their plan to a friend, Petruchio, who surprisingly agreed to marry Katherina. All her beauty and wealth were enough for him. Katherina reluctantly was wed to Petruchio and she was taken to his home to be tamed. With Katherina out of the way, Bianca was now allowed to marry Lucentio, who offered her father the highest dowry for her. In the final scenes of the play, Katherina proves that she is tamed by winning an obedience contest at a dinner party. Katherina is now even more in accordance with her wifely duties than Bianca. A fare is a type of comedy based on a ridiculous situation. The Taming of the Shrew, an eminent example of a farce, is the first of three farces written by Shakespeare.
"Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them." -Oscar Wilde. This quote embodies the fight over gender roles and the views of women in society. Taming of the Shrew deals with Kate and Bianca, two sisters who are at the time to he married off. However, suitors who seek Bianca as a wife have to wait for her sister to be married first. Kate is seen as a shrew because she is strong willed and unlike most women of the time. In his 1603 play The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare enforces traditional gender roles and demonstrates how little say women had in society. He accomplishes this through the strong personality of Kate, Baptista 's attitude towards his daughters as transactions, and
Called "cursed Kate" throughout the play, Katherine is openly jealous of the attention he sister is receiving, whereas she, because she speaks her mind, is being bypassed and even avoided in the wooing process. Katherine reveals this attitude in act 2 scene1, lines 31-35, "nay, now i see she is your treasure, she must have a husband; i must dance barefoot on my wedding day, and for your love to her, lead the apes to hell. Talk not to me i will sit and weep!...." This anger is not concealed, it serves to provide motivation as to why a rational person would rebuke petrucchio so rudely upon first encountering him. Katherine surely realizes that petruchio is interested in her for ulterior motives other than love. Be it purse that the dowry will bring or the actions of an...
The Taming of the Shrew is one of the earliest comedies written by William Shakespeare. The Taming of the Shrew focuses a great deal on courtship and marriage. Especially the life after marriage, which was generally not focused on in other comedies. Notably, the play focuses on the social roles that each character plays, and how each character faces the major struggles of their social roles. Which plays into one of the most prevalent themes of The Taming of the Shrew. The theme of how social roles play into a person’s individual happiness. This is displayed through the characters in the play that desperately try to break out of the social roles that are forced upon them. This exemplified through the character, Katherine, an upper-class young maiden-in-waiting, who wishes to have nothing to do with her role.
The Taming of the Shrew is set in a time period that did not accept women as we do today. In today's society, women who are strong and independent and quick witted are praised. In Elizabethan times women were supposed to know their role in life, being good to their husbands, making children and taking care of them. There were no women in politics, there were no women in business, it was only acceptable for women to participate in domestic areas of life. Women could not live a respectable life in this time period without a male figure to take care of them, rendering them helpless without men. If there was anything that must be done involving economics or education, it was up to the men. Men were the ones who worked and brought home the money to support the family. The roles of men and women were very distinct, and it resulted in giving the men the majority of the power.
Sexism is an ever changing concept in today’s world. Every day the concept morphs a little bit, changing the entire definition of what is sexist and what is not. In The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, the male characters lie to and abuse their women in order to have the women marry them. Lucentio come to Padua to study, but when he sees a beautiful girl, he pretends to be a teacher in order to marry Bianca. Petruchio on the other hand forces a woman to marry him and then trains her to follow his every command. Although the The Taming of the Shrew is frequently regarded as a particularly sexist play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women.
Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You Essay Money is a very big factor in determining one’s decisions, even in a marriage. The play Taming of the Shrew consists of 3 suitors who try to woo Bianca, but their father proclaims her first daughter, Katerina, who is considered a shrew, must first marry in which a rich young man, Petruchio comes into the play to attempt to marry and tame the shrew. The movie 10 Things I Hate About You consists of practically identical plot. Instead, it consists of the father, Walter Stratford and his two daughters, Bianca and Kat and two boys, Cameron and Joey who wish to date Bianca, Bianca herself is interested in dating. Walter Stratford, the father, states his oldest daughter Kat is required to date first before Bianca can.
Ever since people started to settle into their way of living, certain expectations over a certain culture is shaped by what the elders pass down. Over generations, the culture slowly changed yet it shapes to what makes society for what it is and what is expected to come from people in that certain time period. So how does this change occur within these generations? In The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, it becomes evident that the older generation influences the younger generation and proves what is expected from its time, especially when it comes to family.
of the men who desired Bianca needed somebody to marry Kate, as it was customary
During The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has used pleasure and pain in order to tell the story of Petruchio and Katherina’s courtship. This is problematic for modern day audiences, as they do not find the courtship methods that Petruchio employs to woo Katherina particularly comical. However, it could be argued that Shakespeare crafted The Taming of the Shrew precisely for this reason, to feature his views on patriarchy and to make the audience see what was happening through a new perspective. The Elizabethan audience would have been shocked at the methods used in order to achieve the taming, even though it was well within a man’s right to discipline his wife if she was deemed unfit. From the very beginning of The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare indicates that this play will not follow traditional rules of decorum, and that it is intended to both give pleasure and cause pain in order to make both Elizabethan and modern audiences take note of his underlying message.
Men have so much control in this society and Shakespeare has a little bit of a change in the women in his play.